Arc of Discovery: Responsibility
by Van Donovan
Summary: The Doctor, Romana and Adric arrive on an ice world and have to figure out what's causing the strange weather patterns. The events unfold, teaching everyone a lesson in responsibility, and strengthens their bonds. The first in the ARC OF DISCOVERY triolog
1. Chapter 1

It was while Romana was teaching him to play chess in the library that Adric first noticed something amiss between the two Time Lords. The three of them had escaped the terror of the Great Vampire several days ago and had been luxuriating in the TARDIS since, but Adric had felt a strained sort of tension between his companions. The Doctor claimed to be trying to pinpoint the location of the Starliner, so he could return Adric to it, but as little as they saw of him in the Console Room, it seemed he wasn't working very hard.

Adric was calculating moves in his head, determined to master the Earth game, when the Doctor strode into the library. Despite their reprieve, the Doctor was still dressed in his usual manner, having only abandoned his scarf and hat while he prowled about the TARDIS halls. He ignored Adric and Romana, stalking past them to peer at the books upon the shelf.

"You ought to come and join us," Romana cheerfully called.

The Doctor didn't reply. He pulled a book out, flipped through it rather despondently, and shoved it back in place. "It must be in here somewhere," he muttered to himself.

"Stop fussing and come and play with us," Romana said. "Adric's getting quite good." At the Doctor's continued absorption in his books, Romana sighed, set her hands in her lap and twisted in her chair to look at him. "_Doctor_!"

"Confound it all, Romana!" the Doctor shouted. "Can't you see I'm trying to work?"

Instead of rising to the bait as Adric would have expected, Romana brushed the Doctor's brashness aside. "Nonsense!" she replied. "Come over here and play with us. You're not going to find anything useful in those books to help us get back to N-Space anyway," she added offhandedly.

The Doctor snapped the book he was holding shut, peering owlishly over it at Romana. Then he put it away before striding to the chess table. He took one look at the board, reached out to quickly rearrange the pieces, and in three moves had Romana's white king in check. "Please leave me alone." He turned to walk back to the book stack.

Romana gave Adric an exasperated sigh. "You're setting a poor example for the boy, you know," she chided without looking at him. "Absolutely dreadful. He's not got a family anymore now. We're it."

The words obviously had an affect upon the Doctor, as he turned back to them, his eyes wide. "Preposterous!" he roared. "I'm not running an orphanage, you know!"

"Oh, have a little compassion, Doctor!" Romana returned. Addressing Adric, she kindly said, "He really doesn't mean it."

"I do!" the Doctor boomed. "As soon as I figure out how to get you back to your Starliner, I will."

"You will not," Romana confidently stated. To Adric, she explained, "This is how he admits he likes people: through insults."

"I see," said Adric, though he didn't.

Romana was speaking again. "You know perfectly well that if you wanted to take Adric home, all you'd have to do is materialize the TARDIS on the ship before it took off, just in a different place than where we were originally. Even a Time Tot could figure that out."

"Poppycock!" the Doctor bellowed. Fixing his wide eyes on Adric, he wagged a finger. "Don't listen to a word she says. She's delusional, that one."

"It isn't so bad," Romana casually said, beginning to rearrange the chess pieces to start the game anew.

Drawn in by the ambiguous statement, the Doctor hesitated, trying to figure out where she was going with such phraseology. "What isn't?" he asked, rising to the bait.

"Our being Adric's family. You're a wonderful father figure, and I've always fancied being a mother." Romana absently smiled as she set her white king and queen chess pieces back in place. "He can't go back to that Starliner anyhow, and you know it. It's much better for him here on the TARDIS, with us."

Very hotly the Doctor retorted, "I am not the boy's father, you are not his mother, and he is not staying on my TARDIS." A little more politely, he said to Adric, "No offense, of course. You're a wonderfully sweet boy and all that, but really, this is all much too much!"

"You make it sound like you don't like families at all," Romana sullenly said.

"I don't," the Doctor answered. "They nag and lie and stifle you. Trust me, we're all much better without them."

Adric held his tongue.

"Not all families are like that, Doctor," Romana protested. "I, for one, wouldn't be like that."

And that was when it occurred to Adric what the conversation was really about. It wasn't about him at all. Romana looked over her shoulder at the Doctor and he peered back at her with a strained expression on his face, and it all made sense. Romana wanted this family—with the Doctor. She wanted to be his wife, or whatever the Time Lord equivalent of that was, and she was using Adric to facilitate that desire. From the way the Doctor was rebutting her, it was fairly obvious the feeling was not mutual.

"Don't I get a say in all this?" Adric asked.

"No," the Doctor quickly replied.

"Of course you do," Romana said at the same time.

Adric pushed his chair back, getting to his feet. "I'm not looking for surrogate parents. I consider you both friends, and that's it. If you don't want me on the TARDIS though, please take me somewhere else—I can't go back to the Starliner. There's nothing for me there."

"So you can join the Great Vampires?" the Doctor countered.

"No," Adric replied, raising his chin. "I've learned. I'm better than that."

"He's not going to harm anyone," Romana said. "Give him a chance. He'll learn best with our personal tutelage and you know it."

"Teachers _and_ parents! What next, zookeepers? We can't take him to Gallifrey, Romana. We can't traipse all over time and space with a boy who shouldn't even be in our universe." The Doctor was scowling.

"And why not?" Romana countered. "You shouldn't have stolen this TARDIS in the first place then, Doctor. Now is hardly the time for you to pick to be noble! You're so selfish!"

"Talking to me like that in my own TARDIS!" the Doctor yelled. "I won't stand for it!" He pushed past them, stalking out of the library.

The door slammed shut behind them and Romana gave Adric an apologetic smile. "He gets like that, sometimes. He can be so terribly stubborn, but he'll come around eventually."

"I like you, Romana," Adric said simply, as he rose to his feet, "but please don't use me to further your own agenda again." He met her astonished gaze a few moments longer before turning on his heels and chasing after the Doctor.

--

Adric found him in the Console Room, though he didn't appear to be working on any sort of project. The Doctor simply stood with his hands stretched out before him, leaning into the TARDIS console, staring blankly into the switched off viewing monitor embedded in the machinery. The Doctor's shoulders sagged slightly when Adric entered, but he otherwise did not acknowledge the arrival.

"You shouldn't lead her on like that," Adric said.

"This is my TARDIS and you've no right to tell me what I should do in it." The Doctor straightened immediately, turning to face Adric with a curious expression gleaming in his eyes. "How did that seem like leading her on?"

"She's awfully fond of you."

"And I her," the Doctor replied.

Adric absently ran his hands over the controls on the panel before him as he circled the console. "But in a different sort of way."

The Doctor scrutinized Adric carefully. "Did she send you in here to talk to me?"

Lifting his eyes, Adric met the Doctor's gaze. "No," he replied as honestly as possible.

The Doctor seemed to relax at that. "You're very perceptive Adric. I don't like it."

"I'm sorry."

"Mm, what for?" the Doctor mused.

"For being perceptive."

"Always a good trait to have, if I do say so myself. Which I do," the Doctor said calmly. Reaching into his pocket absently, he withdrew a small paper bag of sweets. He ate one himself, before offering the bag to Adric. "Jelly baby?"

Adric cautiously took one. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Watching the Doctor chew through his thoughtlessly, Adric tasted it and found despite its unconventional texture, he quite enjoyed the flavor. "Thank you."

"What I don't need," the Doctor was saying, "is someone telling me how to run my ship."

"She's only trying to help," Adric said, swallowing the juicy morsels the sweet had dissolved down into.

"At your expense, you realize. That's manipulation."

"Did you really steal the TARDIS?" Adric asked.

"Oh, so you _were_ listening," the Doctor mused. He ate another jelly baby before crumbling the bag up and hiding it away in one of his many pockets.

"Of course."

"I suppose we're all running from something, Adric. Running from or running to." He shifted his weight so he could lean back against the console, but he kept his pale blue eyes fixed on the Alzarian. "If I don't take you back to the Starliner, where would you like to go? I'm not even sure where a young man like yourself could possibly fit in." Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he clearly was contemplating planets in his mind. "Quite a lot don't take well to off-worlders or children."

Adric chose not to rebuke the statement that he was a child. "Must I really go anywhere, Doctor? I wouldn't even know where to choose to go. I'd much rather stay here on the TARDIS, with you."

"Now you sound like Romana," the Doctor chided.

"Would you rather be alone?"

The comment caused the Doctor to hem and haw a bit. He twisted dials on the console, though what effect they had, Adric didn't know. The Doctor paced around the column then stood and stared at the hat rack. "There's always someone out there who wants to go exploring the universe."

Adric crossed his arms. "Like me?"

The look the Doctor gave him was a scowl. "Yes, well, but you don't even know . . . well, _anything_."

Affronted, Adric retorted, "I know lots of things!"

"Lots of Alzarian things, perhaps! But what about this?" With a wide gesture, the Doctor drew a large letter 'E' in the air between them. "What's that?"

Adric shook his head. "Some sort of Gallifreyan letter, I suppose?"

"Wrong!" the Doctor replied. "That's the fifth letter in the Arabic alphabet, commonly in use on Earth in the English language."

Exasperated, Adric threw up his arms. "Well, what difference does it make whether or not I can read Earth letters? The TARDIS translates anything I need to know automatically, anyway."

The gleam in the Doctor's eye was almost frightening. It was a mixture of maniacal glee and insanity. "Will it always though?" he asked deviously. Flipping another switch on the console caused the lights to flicker. When they came back up, the Doctor was still leering, smiling his frightening smile. "Tell me Adric, can you understand me now?"

"That isn't fair!" Adric protested, aware that somehow the Doctor had just shut off the TARDIS translator. Whatever language the Doctor was now speaking was foreign to Adric's ears. "Change it back, Doctor."

"Aah, see, you know nothing," the Doctor mused, smiling and rather pleased at Adric's furrowed brow. Of course, the trick was doubled-edged: Adric couldn't understand the Doctor's Gallifreyan words, but it wasn't as though he'd bothered to learn Alzarian while he'd been planet side. Adric's words were just as meaningless to him as his were to the boy. "Run along now. Go and play." He shooed Adric away. Perhaps now he could get some peace and quiet.

Adric stomped his foot angrily, but seeing he was getting nowhere fast with that method, he turned away, storming out of the Console Room. He'd show the Doctor just what he knew.

--

The next day, after having resisted looking as though both men had peeved her, Romana found the two of them sitting in the kitchen, conversing together in halted English over tea. It was the strangest thing to hear: accented English. The Doctor was fluent, of course, but Adric's words were slightly fumbled, like a child's, and it took Romana several seconds to figure out exactly why that was. "You've turned off the neural translator!" she exclaimed.

"Penny for the bright lass," the Doctor said in his smooth baritone. "Adric's really quite remarkable at this, Romana. He's just learned English this afternoon." Glancing around curiously at the lack of a sun to dictate time, he amended, "Well, today at any rate."

"Hello, Romana," Adric said. His words were accented, but still very clearly English.

"Oh, Adric, that's wonderful." Turning to the Doctor, she continued, "Why is he learning English?"

"Well why not!" the Doctor shouted. "It isn't as though I could teach him Gallifreyan!"

Adric seemed unmoved by the Doctor's outburst. "I like Earth numbers," he said casually. "They're so much more malleable than the Alzarian system." He turned a piece of paper he had out before him toward Romana. On one side were neatly printed Earth numbers—clearly not written in the Doctor's hand—and on the other side were a series of dashes and dots, which must have been the Alzarian writing system. "We have so many strokes it's hard to keep track of them, sometimes."

Romana smiled tightly at Adric before looking back to the Doctor. Speaking in Gallifreyan, she said, "But how could he possibly learn English so quickly?"

Smiling broadly at Adric, the Doctor replied in chipper English, "He's a remarkably bright boy, Romana! That's all."

"Won't you join us, Romana?" Adric asked. His tone was exceedingly polite as he spoke in the foreign tongue, but his syntax was flawless. "The Doctor's been teaching me a game called Numbers."

The game, Romana realized, was an ancient one that had originated on Gallifrey. It involved using numbers and letters to create complex mirror equations that could only be solved by borrowing the inverse digit of the solution from the mirror. Extremely talented Time Lords could build upon their mirror equations so they reflected on the paper (or more commonly, computer screen) like snowflakes, often in multiple dimensions. The sheet the Doctor was working on was up to twenty-six two-dimensional mirrors; Adric was at eighteen and half way finished with another. It was much more complicated with Gallifreyan numbers and letters, but the two men seemed quite engrossed with their game. "I thought you were working," Romana protested.

The Doctor didn't look up; he was jotting down another string of digits.

"Weren't you busy doing something, Doctor?" Romana crossed her arms. "Doctor?" she repeated, this time in English.

"Mm?" The Doctor looked up, setting the tip of his pencil on his tongue to wet it. "Oh, yes. Well, that can wait, Romana. We are Time Lords, after all."

Adric's mind had dulled when Romana had entered the room. The equation he'd been working on had scattered into Alzarian numbers, and then he'd lost it altogether. He couldn't concentrate on the game and speak English all at once. Nevertheless, he kept his eyes trained on his paper and worked his pencil, trying to appear like he was engrossed in what he was doing. It was easier to concentrate that way, but it also meant he didn't have to see the upset look on Romana's face. Perhaps the Doctor couldn't tell, but Adric knew without a doubt she was unhappy with them, and he knew why, too:

He had convinced the Doctor to play Numbers without ever asking, where as Romana had failed to get the Doctor to join in a game of chess with her, despite nearly begging.

He knew it was rotten behavior, but he smirked anyway.

--

"Fetch your coat, it's cold out there!"

Adric hadn't been aware that they were landing, but the sound of the Doctor's voice booming down the hall convinced him to surface from his room. He didn't have a coat to wear, however, so instead he just followed the sound of the Doctor's footsteps deeper into the TARDIS. He found him a short while later, standing in Romana's doorway.

"We've landed on a lovely planet which K-9 says is called Needa, Romana. It's very cold out, so bundle up."

"I'm not going," Romana said, her tone petulant.

"What! Not going!" the Doctor cried. His eyes went wide. "What do you mean, not going!"

"I'm busy," she retorted.

Turning suddenly tender, the Doctor eased into her room. "Oh, come now, Romana. It's a new world! Probably never even explored by Time Lords, being in E-Space and all. You can't leave me to adventure out there all alone, can you?"

"You'll have Adric," Romana pointed out. "And K-9."

"Yes, well," the Doctor mused, "we work better as a team. All of us."

Creeping to the doorway, Adric peeked inside, just in time to see Romana turn away from her desk at last, looking up at the Doctor. "You really think so?" she asked.

"Don't brood, Romana. It's unbecoming. Come on then, up. Up! Fetch your coat."

"Oh, all right," she said, rising with a sigh. She paused when she spied Adric eavesdropping. "What is it, Adric?" she asked.

The Doctor turned too, smiling when he saw the boy. "Finish your equations?"

"No," Adric replied. Then he straightened. "I've not got a coat, Doctor."

"Well you can't go out dressed like that!" the Doctor announced. "Come on then, off to the wardrobe with you." He grabbed Adric by the arm, preparing to drag him off. "Five minutes Romana."

Adric donned on a soft, furry brown parka, snow boots and fleece lined gloves in the wardrobe. He and the Doctor met up with Romana again in the Console Room. She had pulled on a sky-blue frock coat and wore fuzzy white earmuffs and knitted white mittens. The Doctor had his scarf wrapped tightly around his throat and held his hat in his hands. All three were terribly hot, standing there in the Console Room.

On the view screen, however, huge snowflakes flurried to the ground, in the distance. The world was blanketed in white and a low wind seemed to blow, sending the giant snowflakes scattering and swirling from time to time.

"All right, K-9?" the Doctor asked, resting his hand over the door lever.

"Systems are functioning at optimal operation, Master," he replied.

"Good, good." Turning his attention to his two bipedal companions, he put on his hat and said, "Shall we?" After their encouraging nods, he opened the door and the four of them stepped out into the world.

--

"It's beautiful," Adric said, watching his breath as it crystallized in the cold air. His awe was genuine and complete as he turned a full circle, taking in the wonder around him.

"Doesn't it snow on Alzarius?" Romana asked. She dimly noticed she was speaking Gallifreyan again, and that Adric understood her—the Doctor must have reinstated the neural translator.

"No," Adric replied. "Leastways, not like this."

"Imagine that," Romana smugly said, "having never seen snow."

She turned to the Doctor, to see what he thought of the fact that the all-knowing Alzarian was ignorant about snow, and was just in time to watch him break into a wicked smile, ignore her completely, and launch a snowball at Adric.

It hit Adric square in the chest, exploding into a powdery spray. The boy wore a priceless shocked expression for the first few moments, not understanding what had just happened, or why the Doctor had thrown something at him. Picking up on the brilliant smile he was given, he quickly realized it was another of the Doctor's games. Ducking down, he scooped up a fistful of snow of his own, chasing after the now-retreating Doctor to pelt him between his shoulder blades. Their laughter filled the air.

Romana stood a few feet in front of the TARDIS doors, watching the two of them chase each other around. There was something sweet about the way they played together, but it didn't quite make her smile. The game labored on until the Doctor, with height at his advantage, caught Adric around the neck and crushed a snowball into the Alzarian's shaggy hair. The two then fell to their knees, still laughing.

Romana's frown deepened. "Dash it!" she spat.

"Mistress?"

Eyes widening, Romana looked down to see K-9 standing patiently beside her. She quickly covered her mouth. "Forgive me, K-9. I was thinking aloud."

"Apology not required," K-9 said. Then, after a pause, he added, "Mistress?"

Romana was watching the Doctor and Adric again. They were still on their knees, only now the Doctor appeared to be pointing something out to the boy in the snow. Adric wore a confused and curious expression on his face as he followed the trajectory of the Doctor's finger on the ground. "What is it, K-9?" she asked, growing exasperated.

"I am detecting anomalous readings."

That was enough to warrant Romana's full attention. She lowered herself to one knee beside him. "What's wrong?" she asked, putting a hand on his back.

"Scans indicate severe weather irregularities."

Around them, snowflakes nearly the size of Romana's hand quietly fell. "It's snowing," she pointed out, raising a palm up to catch a snowflake. It poised for a moment on her glove before melting into water.

"Sensors indicate a regional thermal temperature of twenty-five degrees Celsius."

Romana dusted her hands off, pushing back to her feet. "But that's impossible. It's _snowing_," she repeated.

K-9's scanners swiveled in the sockets on his head as a snowflake landed on him, then bounced off. "Confirmed," he agreed. "Local temperature varies by up to sixty-three percent."

"You're saying it's snowing here, but nowhere else in the area?"

"That is correct."

Romana put a hand on her hip, scanning the snowy grounds around her. It all seemed quite evenly covered to her. If there was an area not far away that lacked a blustery sky and large flakes falling, she couldn't see it. "Could your scanners be damaged?"

"All systems are functioning at optimal efficiency, Mistress."

"Well, something's not right," Romana said, crossing her arms. She looked around the area again, before settling her attention on the only two other people present. "We'd better inform the Doctor."

"Affirmative."

"Which, as you'll note here," the Doctor was saying, as they approached, "is exactly the same distance from the source."

"It's very fascinating, Doctor, but I still don't see its principal application," Adric replied.

"Don't see it's—" the Doctor started, baffled at Adric's words, then shook his head. "Its principal application is that it _has_ no principal application!" He rose to his feet and tipped his hat at Romana. Snow fell off it. "Hello, Romana, K-9."

"Hello, Doctor," Romana replied. Then, without prompting, added, "K-9's picked up some very unusual readings."

"What have you picked up there, old bean?" the Doctor asked, kneeling down to listen to K-9's report.

"Scans indicate severe weather irregularities," K-9 repeated. "Sensors project a mean temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, but local reconnaissance return proof of snow. Illogical."

"Well isn't that odd," the Doctor mused.

"What does it mean?" Adric asked.

"K-9's saying it's too warm to snow," Romana replied. She took her glove off and reached her hand out, testing the air. "It certainly feels cold enough."

"Yes, it does." The Doctor's voice was subdued as he thought. After a moment's consideration, he said, "Tell me K-9, do you detect any technology nearby?"

"Affirmative, Master," he replied.

"Good dog," the Doctor replied, patting his head as he rose to his feet. Adjusting his scarf by throwing it over his shoulder he turned and said, "Lead on."


	2. Chapter 2

The village that K-9 led them to was nearly an hour's walk from the TARDIS, down in a valley. The temperature rise was evident, but the incline not enough to suggest they'd been in the mountains. Removing his gloves as they surveyed the area, Adric said, "K-9, what's the weather temperature like now?"

"Maintained at twenty-five degrees Celsius, Young Master," he replied.

"Well that's no good," the Doctor said, loosening his scarf from around his neck. "It's clearly warmer down here than it was up there."

"Don't suppose anyone's home?" Romana asked, glancing around the empty street. "Where do you think all the people have gone?"

"Reckon we're maybe hiding from you, miss."

The three turned at the voice, looking in surprise at the man who had materialized behind them. He was a tall fellow dressed in faded brown clothes. At his hip rested a sidearm, though his hand was not near it.

"Hello there," the Doctor cheerfully said, stepping forward to put himself between his companions and the stranger. "I'm the Doctor. This is Romana, and Adric," he added, gesturing to them with one hand. "Oh, and K-9, of course."

The man's eyes swept over the new arrivals, studying them coolly. "Name's Evan. I run this town."

"Where do you run it?" the Doctor asked cheerfully.

Clearly not understand the pun, Evan stepped back from them. "What do you folks want?"

"We're just passing through, actually," the Doctor said, scratching at his cheek absently. "We couldn't help but notice the strange weather patterns you have here."

"Yes, they're very peculiar," Romana added, sidling up beside the Doctor. "Our scanners say it's a balmy twenty-five degrees, even when it's snowing out."

Evan's eyes flashed. "Snowing? You went up the road?"

"Came down it, more like," the Doctor replied.

"You three staying at the Inn?" Evan asked, eyes narrowed.

Romana and Adric exchanged looks, but the Doctor just lifted his head, flashing his teeth and smiled. "Why, yes. Yes, we are. Be a good man now, and show us the way there?"

Evan, looking none too pleased with the prospect, gave them all one last glare before turning and leading the way. Adric waited until Evan's back was to them before speaking.

"Doctor," he began, "did you notice the static charge in the air here?" Once he had the Doctor's attention, he raised his now-gloveless hand out and ran it over his hair. A few loose strands of dark Alzarian hair lifted, rising to brush his palm.

"That is _very_ strange," the Doctor mused.

"What would fill the air with static charge?" Romana asked, turning to look at Adric. She examined his hair closer, as if it would reveal a sign.

The Doctor raised his hand behind her, holding it over her head. When her hair rose to meet his palm, he broke into a brilliant toothy grin. It was so absurd a sight that Adric burst out laughing.

The laughter made both Evan and Romana turn around. The latter narrowed his eyes suspiciously while Romana scowled. "This is hardly the time for games, Doctor," she chided.

"It's always time for games, Romana," the Doctor replied, "it's the location that's sometimes off."

Evan ended their repartee, gesturing to a non-descript brown building with one hand. "The Inn, Doctor."

--

The Inn was very plain and relatively bare; it consisted of one floor and had only three rooms to let. It was obvious not many travelers came through the town. The Doctor stepped up to the front desk, which was manned by a very tired looking old woman. "Hello there," he cheerfully said. "I'd like to let a room, please." He patted himself down, looking for money.

The old woman eyed him critically before letting her eyes pass over Adric and Romana. She settled at last on Evan, who gave her a very small, encouraging nod. "Name?" she croaked.

"Ah, well, yes. I'm the Doctor, and this is Romana and Adric," he added, gesturing.

The old woman raised an eyebrow. "You're a doctor?" she questioned.

"I believe so, yes," he answered. Leaning against the countertop to peer at her he added, "Why?"

"We've been in need of a skilled doctor for quite some time," she said. "They send them from the city, on occasion, but they've been coming less and less lately."

His curiosity now piqued, the Doctor asked, "Is there a sickness here?"

"No," the old woman answered. "But too often those who fall ill don't recover. Won't you look at them, please, Doctor?"

Sighing deeply, the Doctor turned to address his two companions. "I suppose I must," he said absently. "I'll give your men a good looking over, you'll rent us a room then?"

The old woman seemed hesitant, but then nodded her agreement. "Very well."

"Romana?" the Doctor asked.

"It's quite all right," Romana said happily. "Adric and I will settle in and then explore." She turned to brightly smile at Adric. "Won't we?"

Adric shrugged. "I _would_ like to see what's causing the electricity charge," he agreed.

"You'd be wise not to meddle in the affairs of strangers," Evan said acidly.

The Doctor turned completely, clasping both Romana and Adric around the shoulders. "Do be careful," he announced. "And try not to get into trouble."

Adric was quite certain that last bit had been directed at himself. "I'm not going to get into trouble."

Romana wormed out from under the Doctor's arm. "I'm perfectly capable of keeping an eye on Adric," she chided. "Go and tend to the sick if that's what they want you to do. We'll meet you back here tonight and let you know what we've found."

"All right then," the Doctor said. He gave Adric's shoulder a squeeze before removing his hand, fixing both of his companions with another bright, toothy grin. "Keep an eye on her, Adric, won't you?" he said almost under his breath. "She does get overzealous at times."

Adric smiled back. "We'll be fine."

"Your key," the old woman said, tapping the Doctor on the shoulder to hand him his room key.

"Ah, yes, thank you," the Doctor replied. He studied the key for a moment before handing it over to Romana. "Well, until tonight then!" He inclined his head and headed back out.

--

"K-9, can you locate where the static charge field is emanating from?" Adric asked once they were back outside. They had left their heavy coats in their room and were considerably cooler for the change.

The robot dog's sensors swiveled as he computed. "Affirmative, Young Master," he said. Without further ado, he began rolling along.

"What are you up to?" Romana asked as she fell into step beside Adric. K-9 was heading back in the direction they'd come from. "You think the static electricity is causing the weather fluctuation?"

"Don't you?" Adric asked earnestly.

"Well, I do admit there is probably some connection."

K-9 turned up the path that would lead them back toward the TARDIS but only followed it for a few minutes before veering off again. They ended up not far from the town, but several feet above ground level, on a ledge in the mountains. It wasn't quite snowing where they were, but the temperature felt much cooler. Below them they could see a thick carpeting of trees and the small town nestled therein. Beyond the trees grew a sandy shore before stretching into the ocean. The town was situated in a bay; the mountain range curved along the land, following the shore with about a kilometer distance between the ocean and the mountains. The sight was quite enchanting.

Romana stood looking at it for a while, but Adric was already pushing aside bushes on the ledge they'd arrived on. "Look, I've found something!" he exclaimed.

Turning away from the view, Romana followed Adric to his discovery. Hidden very neatly behind the bushes, and recessed slightly into the mountain wall, was a large piece of machinery. It produced no light or noise, but the static electricity charge was much greater; to the extent that the ends of Adric's hair floated toward the machinery when he got too close.

"K-9, what do you make of this?" Romana asked, moving to squat down beside Adric. The ends of her hair shifted toward the machine as well.

K-9 extended his receptor and touched the metal panel. "It appears to be a high density electric generator, Mistress."

"Do you think it's affecting the weather?" Adric questioned. His fingers skirted along the smooth metal siding, searching for a release mechanism to open it.

"Well, it's certainly not doing nothing," Romana pointed out. She gently nudged Adric out of the way, producing from her pocket her own sonic screwdriver. Adric stared at her curiously as she used it to undo the bolts on the paneling. Eventually it loosened and fell off. Rather pointedly she said, "The Doctor's hardly the first Time Lord to ever use a sonic device." Adric reached for the instrument, eager to study it, but she quickly slipped it back into her pocket, returning to the machinery.

"This is definitely beyond the technology I expected to find here," she said. Reaching in to turn a valve, she suddenly let out a hiss and jerked her hand back. "It's hot!" she cried.

"Readings indicate machinery operating at 300 efficiency," K-9 announced.

"300!" Adric repeated. "What! It should have run down long ago, overexerting itself like that."

"It's burning out, that's for sure," Romana agreed. She tenderly touched her burned hand before looking back in at the generator. "This thing extends deeper into the mountain." Rising to her feet, she studied the rock face above them, hoping to see some telltale sign of other technology, but there was nothing. "If it's as big as I think it is, it could control this whole region."

Adric stayed on his knees, peering into the machinery with a furrowed brow. "You think it controls the weather for the whole area? It must be massive then!"

"Affirmative," K-9 agreed. "Mass indicators suggest electronics extend as far as sixteen meters inside the mountainside."

"Controlling weather," Romana mused, displeased. "It's a foolish and dangerous practice even when it's very well monitored. Out here, with no one around who even seems to know it exists? It's absurd!"

"It's broken, anyway," Adric pointed out. He extended a finger to point at an output screen, careful not to touch the metal. "All of these numbers are indicating a gradually increasing rise of variables, but then it stops here. Either the coding is off or, more likely, the generator has broken. That'd account for the strange temperature readings K-9 picked up," he mused.

"And the snow at an altitude not possibly high enough for it," Romana agreed. "Can you fix it?" she inquired, moving to kneel beside him again.

Using the edge of his fingernail, Adric pried open a tiny little panel inside the machinery, revealing a small keyboard. "I think so," he said, shifting to get into a better position. "It's just a series of algorithms, after all. That should at least reset the circuits. From there we could run a diagnostic to see what else is wrong."

"Can I help?" Romana asked, watching him.

"Yes, you can—ouch!" Adric jerked his hand back, putting his finger in his mouth. "Wish I'd thought to bring my gloves," he mused, eyeing his burned finger. "We're going to have to find out what's causing this heat and divert it; I can't use the keyboard until we do."

"K-9?" Romana asked, glancing over her shoulder at the dog. "Can you tell where the heat is emanating from?"

K-9's sensors went swiveling again before he replied, "Heat source is emanating two meters to the left, Mistress." Romana got to her feet, following K-9's directions. She pulled back another set of brambles, revealing another part of the machine. She made quick work of the panels and squatted down to peer inside. It was immediately obvious what was causing the heat: a rapidly spinning discus was heating the surrounding metal up to such a degree that it was glowing red-gold.

After carefully assessing the situation, Romana wrapped her sleeve around her hand and reached in, twisting a valve. It promptly caused the discus to stop spinning and the metal swiftly darkened as it cooled. "Try it now, Adric. I think I've stopped the heat."

Adric very gingerly touched the controls, then quickly began typing once he realized she had succeeded. "It's all right now!" he called.

Romana smiled, pleased at her swift deduction and assessment of the situation, but her frown returned as she realized that, even with her sleeve protecting her, the valve was still generating energy, and was soon going to grow much hotter than she could hold. "I'm not sure I can hold on to this for very long," she warned. "Are you nearly done?"

"I'm doing the calculations as fast as I can!" Adric said. "I've taken the system offline. Just hold on—if you release now there won't be anywhere for the energy to flow. We'll get a terrible back lash."

"Well then stop talking and keep computing!"

For a time, she received no reply from Adric. All she could hear was the faint clicking of the keys as he worked several meters away. Her palm grew intolerably hot and she managed to switch to her other hand, which provided temporary relief. Her eyes traveled to K-9, wondering if she could somehow rig a system so he could depress the valve. He was not immune to heat but it would affect him less than her.

"It's not working!" Adric lamented. "It's just too big! There must be hundreds of generators on this planet, and they're _all_ faulty! I fix one and the rest fall out of alignment!"

"Adric, I can't hold on to this valve very much longer," Romana tersely said. "Return the settings and let's go. We'll have the Doctor look at it."

There was a hesitation before Adric replied. "I'm not sure I can," he said, his voice wavering. "I had to take the system offline to access the mainframe." His fingers ran over the keys again. "But now everything is misaligned. It won't go back online."

"Well that's a quandary!" Romana cried. "My hand is about to burn off."

"I'll try to realign this region," Adric quickly said. He grew quiet as he concentrated on imputing the equations into the system.

Feeling at last that she could hold the valve no longer, Romana testily said, "Adric, is there a red valve on your side? Not very big but very hot?"

The typing didn't cease as Adric answered, "Yes."

"Wrap your hand around your sleeve and try to turn it. It might divert some of the temperature."

"I've got to finish realigning this!" he retorted.

"I'm going to let go of the valve!" Romana shouted. "If I do, I'm afraid it's going to blast through to your side. If you turn the valve on your end, it might not be as strong."

"I'm almost finished!" Adric snapped.

"Stop being so stubborn and do as I say!" she shouted.

At last Adric abandoned his figures, wrapped his sleeve around his hand and turned the valve that Romana had indicated. It was very hot, even through his sleeve, and difficult to turn. He was halfway through the process when he heard Romana cry out, "Adric!" and then the area erupted in a fiery ball, sending the boy flat on his back and knocking him unconscious.

"Adric!" Romana cried again. She jammed her hand back down on the valve, regardless of the pain it incurred and the blaze where the Alzarian was immediately went out. But now that Adric had half managed to twist his own valve, her side was beginning to smolder. Acrid black smoke began pouring out of the valve joint. "Adric, you must wake up! K-9!" she shouted. "Can you wake him?"

"Attempting rescue, Mistress," he replied, rolling forward.

After several nudges of his cool metal, Adric stirred, coughing violently. He rolled onto his side and let out a pained yelp, then threw his arms around K-9's neck and pulled himself to a sitting position. His arms were badly burned and blistered and he was shivering.

Craning her neck around the bushes, Romana tried to see what was happening. Her hands felt like they were about to combust. "Adric, you must concentrate. Finish turning the valve or it's very likely this entire generator is going to overheat and blow!"

"I can't," he moaned.

"You _must_!" she insisted. "Adric, you must!" Sensing that perhaps she wasn't going to be able to break through Adric's pain, she changed tactics. "K-9—go back to the village and find the Doctor. Bring him here! Go quickly!"

"Yes, Mistress!" K-9 said. He had some difficulty moving, as Adric still clung to him, but eventually he was able to back up and roll away.

Adric fell into the dirt again and the action jostled him awake more. "Doctor, I hurt," he complained.

"The Doctor is on his way," Romana said. She fished with her free hand into her pocket, pulling out her sonic screwdriver. She attempted to use it to hold the valve down, and when that proved futile she tried to wedge the instrument between the wall and the valve to hold it down. That did not work either, and the instrument went clattering to the ground. In the process of picking it up, her hand slipped off the valve for a second.

That caused a burst of heat to flare through again on Adric's side. He was on his stomach now, so most of the blaze passed over him, but it seared his back and made him cry out again.

"I'm so sorry, Adric!" Romana called and clung to the valve with both hands, determined to let her skin burn away before she released it again. "If you can't finish turning your valve, then get away from the generator. It might explode!"

Very groggily Adric came to his senses. His body screamed in pain unlike anything he'd ever known, but he forced himself to his knees. Romana's voice had gone from commanding to frightened and he registered the tonal differences in the back of his mind as extremely important. Something was very wrong and she needed his help to fix it. "Romana?" he said between coughs.

"Adric!" she returned. "Adric, are you all right?"

"I think I will be," he groaned, though he wasn't quite sure what was going on. "Where's the Doctor?"

"He's on his way. Listen, you must finish turning the red valve in front of you. Do you see it?" Her voice was clipped and insistent.

"Yes."

"Good. Now, it may hurt but you must turn it anyway or there's no hope for either of us."

"All right," he said, defeated. He took a long look at the valve before grasping it with both of his hands and turning it the rest of the way. The instant he did, the generator roared and the static electricity field reinstated. With the incomplete calculations, however, the static was unable to discharge. The electricity crackled out of the valves, dancing along and through Adric's forearms as it sought release.

Romana experienced much the same on her end, but the rubber soles of her boots prevented the electricity from grounding through her legs—instead it arced through the air overhead, causing her hair to stand on end as it followed the pull. There was a dull roar in her ears and only after she shook her head did it clear. She grew dimly aware of Adric screaming, but found that her hands had spasmed and now held tight to the valve, glued there by the force of the electricity.

Though she could barely see him around the bushes and arcing light, she surmised Adric was in a similar situation. The panic in her chest tightened as she realized there was no way to get out of this situation. If she released the valve—if she even could—the heat would flood through to Adric's side, most likely incinerating him. If Adric let go, the reverse would happen to her. If they did nothing, they would soon be electrocuted to death.

In that final moment of despair, Romana heard voices. Tearing her eyes off what she could see of Adric—rigid and unresponsive—she focused on the new sound. K-9 had succeeded in finding the Doctor and he was running up the trail as fast as he could, scarf whipping about around him. Behind him hurried several other townsfolk, Evan among them.

"Romana!" he called.

"Doctor!" she answered. "Don't come any closer or the electricity will ground through you!" Her eyes were wide and wild as she focused on him. "We're stuck in a burn loop," she explained through her pain.

The Doctor took careful assessment of the situation. That made him notice Adric's condition—he was very badly burned on top of the electric charge now running through him. His hands still gripped tightly to the red valve, but his body was still—he seemed dead. That sealed it in the Doctor's mind: without thinking about it any longer he pulled his scarf off, threw it out and looped it around Adric.

When he pulled, Adric fell tumbling into his arms and he swept him off his feet so the electricity couldn't follow. At that action, the electric link between the two humanoids broke as well, and Romana pulled her hands free, flinging her body away and into the bushes. She rolled for a bit and then came to a halt as safe distance from the generator.

The Doctor dropped to his knees, cradling Adric's body against his own, and turned his back to the generator as it overheated. The townsfolk let up a roar of shock and then the generator exploded, sending shrapnel and burning debris flying out around them. When the immediate danger had cleared and only the bushes behind them burned, the Doctor pulled back enough to check on Adric. Fearful he'd gone into cardiac arrest because of the electricity coursing through him, the Doctor prepared to do a cardiovascular resuscitation, but Adric was coughing. He was clearly in pain, and quite injured, but his heart hadn't stopped.

Scooping the limp body up in his arms, the Doctor turned toward Romana. She was already on her hands and knees but cringing at the pain that caused her. "You there!" the Doctor said, demanding Evan's attention. "Help me carry them back to the Inn. They need medical attention."

Evan made to protest but the Doctor's glare shut him up. He took one last glance around at the burning ledge before hurrying back down the mountainside.


	3. Chapter 3

In a flurry, the Doctor burst into the Inn. He breezed past the old woman, heading straight for the room he had rented. There he laid Adric out on the double-sized bed, bundled his coat and scarf in a pile to prop his legs up and began assessing the boy's injuries. There were severe burns on his hands, arms and back and potentially deeper electrical ones beneath the skin.

"I need clean, cool cloths!" the Doctor said, gently edging the burned fabric of Adric's tunic aside where he could. "A pitcher of cold water and scissors!"

He turned to look over his shoulder, not hearing any noise in response and realized dimly that no one had followed him back to the Inn. Evan hadn't even arrived yet with Romana. He pushed to his feet. "I'll be right back, Adric." He pulled the bed sheet over the boy before he left.

Stalking into the main room he found the old woman and grabbed her firmly by the arm. "My friend is very badly injured in there," he said darkly. "I need you to get me some supplies."

After relaying his list of needs to her, he returned to Adric, doing the best he could to make the boy comfortable. He hoped that the Alzarian didn't go into shock and that his innate superior healing skills would kick in sooner rather than later.

The old woman returned with the supplies the Doctor needed and he tended to Adric as best he could. The supplies were rudimentary at best and the degree of Adric's injuries was hard to assess. After tearing up an extra bed sheet and carefully dressing all of Adric's wounds, the Doctor sensed he was being watched. Turning, he found Romana leaning against the doorframe studying him.

Her hands had been wrapped in white gauze and her hair pulled into a ponytail back from her face. Her clothing was singed but she looked none-the-worse for the wear. "How is he?" she asked, aware she'd finally caught the Doctor's attention.

"Alive," the Doctor replied, pushing to his feet. He wiped his hands off on a towel. "What happened back there?"

"Adric tried to reprogram the system, to fix the weather inconsistencies. When he took it offline, he realized the mainframe was connected to all the generators on the planet. It overwhelmed him and the generator had a melt down." She tilted her head, looking at the boy resting on the bed. "He was very brave."

"Mmm," the Doctor mused. "He always has been," he agreed. "Foolish, at times, but brave."

Romana smiled. "Sounds like someone else I know." Her eyes flickered back to the Doctor pointedly.

Ignoring the comparison, the Doctor looked out the door into the main hall. "Where has that Evan man gone to? I'd like to have a word with him about his lack of hospitality! Not to mention the dangers lurking in this town. They need to be warned about other generators."

"I'll see if I can find him," Romana said. She departed, leaving the Doctor behind to sit back down on his stool beside Adric's bed.

Dipping a spare rag into the water pitcher, the Doctor gently brushed Adric's hair back from his brow before placing the cool compress against his sallow forehead. The last thing he needed was for Adric to go into shock. "Adric?" he softly said. "Are you awake? You've got to drink, you know."

Slowly, Adric opened his eyes. He stared unseeing for several seconds up at the ceiling. Then he blinked as his sight returned. Turning his head he focused on the Doctor and was met with a toothy grin. It was hard not to smile back, despite his pain. "Hello, Doctor."

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tired," he admitted. "And I hurt," he added, looking away somewhat shamed.

The Doctor held up a glass of water to him. "Drink some. Best to keep hydrated. You've had quite a nasty shock and the water will boost your body's ability to heal itself." He had to hold the glass to Adric's lips, but the boy drank gratefully.

Once the glass was drained, Adric looked considerably better. His gaze flitted across the room before settling at last on the Doctor again. "Where's Romana? Is she all right?"

"A few burns but I'm confident she'll make a full recovery. She's outside, talking with our friend Evan." He pushed to his feet, going to peek out the door.

"Doctor?"

He turned back to Adric. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Whatever for?" he asked, returning to the bed.

Adric's gaze was full of warmth and admiration, tinged, perhaps, with awe. "You had to choose between us," he began. "I can't believe you—"

"Master!" K-9 interrupted, wheeling into the room.

"Hello there, K-9!" the Doctor announced. "Everything all right?"

"Negative, Master."

"Oh? What's wrong?"

The sound of footfalls on the Inn floorboards announced Romana's return. Her face was drawn as she stepped inside, looking between her two companions. "We've got a bit of a problem," she announced. She ran her bandaged hands through her hair, loosening much of it from the ponytail it had been collected into. "Needa is a planet with a very violent natural weather pattern. Apparently the government saw fit to install those weather regulators and then abandoned the townsfolk to the wilds, trusting the generators to work forever. With it offline now, the natural forces are returning."

"More snow?" Adric asked.

Romana shook her head. "It's much worse than that. Doctor, there's a hurricane brewing out on the ocean. A massive wind funnel is forming and no one here knows what to make of it. They're all running to the beach to gawk at it like children. If it comes ashore, it will devastate this town."

"Well, we can't let that happen," the Doctor mused. "You'll have to go warn them—tell them to get underground, if they can, or up in the mountains. They should be safe there."

"Shouldn't we go back to the TARDIS?" Adric asked.

"It's much too far right now," the Doctor said. "Especially with you in your state."

"Well, we can't stay here," Romana said. "These buildings are hardly structured to stand up to hurricane-winds. You'd both be blown away."

"Are hurricanes really that bad?" Adric said.

"Oh, they're not so terrible," the Doctor said, reassuringly. "Romana," he added, "go take our friend Evan and see if you can't find a shelter. There's little we can do until we have a place to relocate."

"Yes, Doctor," she said, turning to depart.

The Doctor settled beside Adric again, grinning. "Now, how about a game to help keep your mind off the pain? I've another numbers game I learned as a boy on Gallifrey." Despite the danger lurking just outside the Inn, he was determined to keep Adric calm for as long as possible.

Adric resettled himself on the pillows, listening to the Doctor explain the new game with great interest.  
--

Squinting into the gale that was starting up, Romana addressed Evan. "You're certain these caves will be big enough to house everyone in the village?"

Evan stood beside her, his face grave. His clothing still bore signs of soot from his efforts in dousing the fire caused by the generator explosion. "There is enough room," he stoically said.

Pulling her eyes off the waterspout in the distance, Romana focused on him. "I'm sorry you're going to have to experience this. It wasn't our intention when we arrived."

"What was?" Evan asked.

Romana let her eyes glide back to the water. She held one hand to her hair, keeping it from blowing into her face. "Exploration, I suppose." She managed a smile. "And we did find something worth seeing. My friend is hurt though," she looked back to him. "We'll need help moving him to the caves."

This time, Evan looked away from her. "You brought this to us," he said with a nod to the waterspout. "You have destroyed this town."

"Whoever built those generators destroyed this town. This planet never should have been settled," she countered.

Evan remained silent for several seconds. "You should leave," he said at last.

"We intend to, once the storm has cleared."

"You should leave now."

"We can't. As I said, my friend is very badly hurt. We're wasting time talking about this. I need help moving him to the caves, where he'll be safe."

"We don't wish to be burdened by you or your friends anymore," Evan said.

Romana's eyes narrowed. "You're saying we're not welcome at the caves?"

"You're not welcome at the caves," Evan stated bluntly.

"After I told you where to go, and how to survive the hurricane, you're denying shelter to me and my friends?" Her tone was incredulous.

"You brought this storm down upon us. You should have to suffer its wrath." He turned away quickly from her, letting the wind push him along.

"What a waste of time that was," Romana said to herself. She turned to look back to the waterspout before letting her eyes survey the area. Many of the buildings had already begun to lose shingles off their roofs. There wasn't any more time to waste—she had to get back to the Doctor and Adric and warn them.

Pushing into the Inn, she noticed the old lady had abandoned her post. The door hung open, banging loudly against the wall as the wind tugged at it. It was impossible to wrangle shut, so she ignored it, trudging on to the back room. In the doorway to the room she stopped, pausing to watch the Doctor and Adric.

Despite the raging storm outside, the two were engaged in a complicated word game that required the first player to build a word off the second player by rearranging the letters of the first word, and adding additional letters by computing equations built from the numerical value of the letters, condensed down to their smallest variables. Although the door continued to bang loudly in the hall, the room the Doctor and Adric occupied seemed warm and peaceful still.

"Problem?" the Doctor asked without looking up.

"Problem," Adric repeated. "Nine: I." He thought for a second, and then cheerfully said, "Limb repo!"

"No, no," the Doctor chided. "Romana's got a problem for us."

Looking up, Adric noticed Romana at last. "Oh. What's wrong?"

Feeling terrible being the bearer of bad news, Romana sighed. "Evan has found a cave for the townsfolk to stay in. They should be safe there," she prefaced. "However, they've decided we've caused enough trouble already, and we're not welcome."

The Doctor made a face, displeased with the news. His eyes drifted back to Adric, lingering on the boy's gauze covered wounds. "We won't be able to make it to the TARDIS in time," he said.

"Won't the mountains protect us?" Adric asked.

"They might," the Doctor said. "But I'm not sure that's a risk I'm willing to take, especially not with you in this condition. You shouldn't be moved at all."

"Well, we haven't got much choice," Romana protested. "By the looks of things, that waterspout is going to come to land within minutes, and this Inn is not going to last."

"Couldn't we just go behind the hurricane?" Adric asked. "If it's got a forward momentum, being behind it should be safe."

"You can't just predict a hurricane's path," Romana said. "Depending on what it encounters, it could veer back into what you thought was a safe zone."

"But if you could predict it," Adric intently said, sitting up. "It would work, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, but—" Romana began.

"Tut-tut!" the Doctor said, waving a hand at her to shush her. "What are you thinking, Adric?"

"If I can get the variables Romana spoke of, I'm sure I could predict the path of the hurricane. It's just a mathematical equation, after all."

"That's impossible," Romana retorted. "Even if you had those variables, what good would it possibly do? The debris churned out from a hurricane would be just as devastating as encountering it head on."

"Mirror equations!" Adric shouted. "Once I have all the variables figured out I can use the mirror equation the Doctor taught me earlier to figure out the safest path around the hurricane. It isn't hard to consider all the variables, not if you've got a practical application for the maths!"

"Quick Romana," the Doctor said, eyes on Adric, "fetch the boy a pencil and paper! K-9!"

"Yes, Master?"

"What's the current wind velocity of the storm outside?" he asked.

K-9 began to rattle off a wind factor. Romana pulled a pad of paper and a pencil from the Doctor's coat, which was still piled beneath Adric's feet on the bed. As soon as he had it, Adric began to write. It was clear his hands hurt him terribly to use, but he suffered on. He asked questions of K-9 and began sketching diagrams to demonstrate trajectory.

By the time he finished, the Inn was shuddering with the force of the winds. "We've got to go to the shore!" Adric shouted.

"Absurd!" Romana yelled.

"No time to argue," the Doctor said. He quickly donned his coat and scarf and without further ado, scooped Adric up in his arms. "Which way?" Adric seemed momentarily stunned at the action, and then pointed needlessly toward the open door. "Come on, Romana!"

"This is insane!" Romana shouted, following them out into the storm. The sky was now black with clouds and heavy, whipping rain fell from above.

Adric pointed through the storm, confirming with his paper the exact location he'd worked out to be safe. He adjusted, mentally, as they moved, calculating new variables as they encountered them. The rain lashed at them, diminishing their sight, but the Doctor trudged on, following Adric's directions without question.

Romana and K-9 hurried after them, the former continually looking up into the waterspout in fear and noticing that they were traveling further and further from the TARDIS.

At last they reached a spot where Adric cried, "Here!"

The rain continued to drive into them but they seemed relatively out of the path of the hurricane. No trees or buildings sheltered them, so they were still at the mercy of the wind. The Doctor huddled down, shielding Adric the best he could with his body. Romana pressed in close to them as well, realizing dimly that being out in the open like this gave them the greatest chance of not getting hit by flying debris—they weren't near anything. "Absurd!" she shouted again, but the roaring of the wind drowned her voice out instantly.

The Doctor threw one arm out over Romana's shoulder to draw her closer. Just as he did a palm frond came ripping through the air at them, striking the Doctor on the back. He rocked forward, taking the brunt of the impact.

"K-9!" Romana cried, lifting her eyes to see the robotic dog rolling away. "K-9, come back!"

"Sensors indicate superior shelter area just ahead, Mistress!" K-9 announced, but his voice was hard to hear over the roaring of the wind.

"If he goes into the water, he'll short out!" Romana cried.

"Nothing to be done for it now," the Doctor chided. "How are you doing, Adric?"

"I've been better," he replied sounding pained.

The Doctor lifted his eyes to assess K-9's success, but the dog had already rolled out of sight.

The three huddled there together for what seemed like hours. For the most part the Doctor managed to shield his companions with his larger frame, taking damage from the rare bit of flying debris that came their way. Still the rain poured down, whipping into them with the wind. It took very little time before both Adric and Romana, who weren't as well dressed or insulated, were shivering.

Just as Romana was ready to surge to her feet and exclaim that she couldn't take it anymore, she spied K-9 making his way back over to them, rocking as he buffered against the gale.

"Suitable location secured, Master!" K-9 said when he was close enough to be heard.

"Thank Rassilon!" Romana cried.

The Doctor gave a grunt and pulled to his feet. He readjusted his scarf and then bent to pick up Adric. "Doing all right still?" he cheerfully asked.

"Yes," Adric said, though his teeth chattered.

"Lead on, K-9!"  
--

The cave was very shallow but had a considerable overhang that shielded the interior from the elements. The Doctor entered first, setting Adric down against the back wall. Romana crawled in after him, wringing out her hair as she did. The Doctor patted K-9's head as he slumped to his knees just inside the mouth. There wasn't room enough to stand inside, and it barely accommodated all four of them. The ground was damp from the rain that had made it inside, but it was still considerably drier than outside.

"Let me see your wounds, Adric," Romana said, helping him to sit up a bit. She unwrapped his bandages and checked the burns carefully. He hadn't healed yet, but it was clear the process had begun, for which Romana was grateful. "How do you feel?"

"Very cold," Adric admitted. He looked to the Doctor, who squatted at the mouth of the cave, looking out. His broad frame filled most of the entrance up, further shielding the inside from the weather. "Doctor, you'll get sick sitting out there like that."

Turning, the Doctor peered inside the cave at the boy. "Sick? An Alzarian telling me I'll catch cold?" He grinned brightly, even though his curls hung limp on his brow, periodically dripping water down his cheeks. "Quaint, isn't it Romana?"

"Very," she replied dryly. "He is right you know."

"Oh, I think we've got a bit more to worry about than catching colds," the Doctor said. His eyes were focused on Adric's arm, which Romana had just finished rewrapping. "You were very sharp back there, Adric, calculating a safe place in that storm."

It was dark in the cave, but Adric flushed at the praise. "It was nothing," he insisted.

"I certainly couldn't have done it," Romana said kindly.

"Nor I," the Doctor agreed. Then quickly amended, "Well, perhaps. I was rather occupied."

"I had K-9's help," Adric pointed out.

"Yes, well," the Doctor said, shuffling on his knees, "remember to keep the praise to a minimum then, Romana. The boy doesn't like it."

"It's not that!" Adric quickly said. He looked away, embarrassed.

"Oh?" the Doctor questioned.

"Nothing," Adric said. "Thank you."

For several seconds, the Doctor studied Adric's profile. Then he glanced to Romana. Seeing no explanation from her, he turned back to the weather. "Looks like things are calming down a bit." He looped his sodden scarf around his neck once more and rose to his feet outside. "I'm going to see if everyone made it to the caves safely."

"You can't go!" Romana immediately protested.

"And why not? You can take care of Adric for me, can't you?"

"Well, yes, but what if we need you?"

The Doctor fixed Romana with a very flat stare. "Really, Romana."

She turned away, shamefaced. So often she tried to belittle the Doctor, claiming she was better than him at this thing or that—it was ridiculous of her to try to admit a weakness now. "Of course," she said. "Go on then and see if anyone needs help, but remember we need help too and hurry back."

The Doctor didn't reply, instead just flashed his brilliant smile at the pair of them, pulled his hat out from one of his coat pockets and turned around. "Come along, K-9!" he called and was soon gone.


	4. Chapter 4

With the Doctor and K-9 gone, the cave was considerably roomier. Romana tried to get a fire started, but couldn't find enough dry kindling. As the sun sank, the temperature plummeted and the rain picked up. Without the Doctor around to shield the entrance to the cave, the wind blew rain into the shelter.

Adric's steady healing had halted and as he began to shiver again from the cold, his condition grew worse. His body had long since depleted its store of food, which affected his energy and slowed his ability to heal considerably. Romana did her best to keep him warm, but it became clear that her efforts were not very effective.

"How long has it been?" Adric asked, his teeth chattering together as he spoke.

"How long since what?" Romana replied. She had removed her coat and was shaking it out, hoping it would dry faster if she agitated it.

"Since the Doctor left," Adric retorted. "He's been gone ages. What if he's been hurt?"

Romana glanced out the mouth of the cave, where the rain poured steadily down. The world outside was nearly invisible, save for the faint glow reflected from the moonlight. "I'm sure he's all right. It is the Doctor, after all."

There was a movement behind her and when she turned, she found Adric had pushed to his feet. He had to bend to stand in the cave, and his legs trembled with the effort, but he wore a grim, determined face. "We have to find him," he protested.

Romana loosely gripped his elbow and tugged him back down. "I assure you, the Doctor can take care of himself, Adric. If you go out into that torrent, you'll just get worse."

"You don't know that he's all right!" Adric replied. "He saved me today. The least I could do is try to rescue him in return! It's been hours!"

"It has not," Romana replied. "It only seems like it's been that long. Besides, the Doctor wouldn't want you to rush off recklessly on his account."

Bitterly settling back down, Adric glared at Romana and said, "No, I guess that's _your_ job."

"My job right now is to make sure you're safe."

Resolutely, Adric said, "The Doctor was willing to die to save me today." The boy's eyes shone faintly as he spoke, his voice growing passionate. "He had to choose between us and he picked me!"

Romana's temper flared and she rose to her knees. "It wasn't as though he chose you because he likes you more!" she shouted. She realized, even as she spoke, that she was being childish, but she couldn't staunch the flow of words. "He's a _Time Lord_, Adric!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Adric shouted back, his tone matching hers.

"If he had died, he simply would have regenerated. And the same goes for myself! You're fragile and have to be watched carefully or you'll break." She knew she sounded snooty even as she spoke, but she couldn't help the thrill of triumph she felt steal through her at Adric's face.

"You're lying," he said, his tone suddenly reserved, almost sullen.

"Hardly." She tossed her hair over her shoulder; it had nearly dried. "This is my first regeneration and the Doctor's third."

She expected a rebuttal, some sort of further denial or protest, but Adric fell quiet. He turned his face away from her, but the far wall was too dark for him to study.

As the silence stretched on, Romana began to feel guilty. She had acted immaturely and had hurt Adric in the process. "I didn't mean that, Adric," she quietly said. "That was rude of me."

"I'm trying to sleep," Adric said darkly.

"You can't, Adric," Romana protested. "You really shouldn't. I don't want you slipping into a thermal induced coma on me."

"What do you care?" he bitterly asked, crossing his arms.

"I really am very sorry, Adric. I know the Doctor cares about you a great deal."

Adric turned his head a bit, peeking at her. "He cares about you too, you know."

Romana folded her legs up beneath her and shrugged. "Well, he cares about lots of people. Comes with being well over seven hundred years old, I suppose."

Adric seemed to struggle with ignoring her and bombarding her more questions. Eventually his curiosity won out. "What happens when you regenerate?"

Romana arched an eyebrow but leaned back on her hand. "Various things, really. In the Doctor's case, when he is killed or dies, he sheds his old body and adopts a new one, at random. This is often coupled with new personality traits, although the memories usually remain intact."

"That's amazing." Adric mulled over the information for several seconds. "Is it the same for you?"

Romana's face drew taut as thinking on her own regeneration harkened back thoughts of the Academy and Gallifrey. It reminded her that she was expected back. "No, I'm a little different."

"How so?"

Shaking her head, Romana politely said, "Speaking about that sort of thing reminds me of Gallifrey, and I'd really rather not thinking about it now."

Completely engaged in the conversation now, Adric turned to her, his face eager. "Your home world? You don't like it?"

Romana nodded, looking a little ill at the thought. "Gallifrey is nothing at all like the Doctor. He's a force unto himself, you know. He flies in the face of all sorts of logic, defying all the other Time Lords, who are stuffy, old and boring. I used to be like them too, until I met the Doctor." She put a hand to her brow. "I'm not sure I can go back to being that way again."

Adric rubbed his chin, contemplating her words and turning them over in his mind. "I think I understand you, Romana." He smiled at her when she lifted her eyes to him. His previous anger had dissipated. "I always felt like an outsider on Alzarius. I was the brother of the leader of the Outlers, so the people on the Starliner shunned me, even though I was brilliant. And my brother shunned me because I was so bright and successful on the Starliner. I never felt I belonged anywhere. Varsh once asked me where I'd be when the Starliner finally left Alzarius and I told him I just wouldn't be there anymore—not on Alzarius and not on the Starliner. I knew I'd be somewhere else—somewhere I really, truly fit in."

"And that's here," Romana finished.

Nodding, Adric agreed. "And that's here."

Romana studied her hands in her lap again. Her mind was somewhat awhirl. She felt even guiltier now for having belittled him earlier. She was well beyond that sort of reaction; she was better than that. "I've been acting rotten to you all week, using you and belittling you," she confessed. "I really am sorry."

Earnestly Adric said, "You haven't been using me!"

"I have," she insisted. "Back on the TARDIS when we were playing chess. I _was_ using you to further my own agenda. It was wrong of me."

Adric resituated himself against the cave wall, uncomfortable with the apology, even though he was pleased to receive it. He wasn't used to dealing with this end of things; people never apologized to him. "Of course I forgive you. Anyone could see why you'd want to stay with the Doctor instead of returning to Gallifrey."

"Except the Doctor, apparently," Romana dejectedly said.

Adric's fingers fidgeted with the bandage on his right arm. "If the Doctor is so different from most Gallifreyans, and knows you are now too, why is he so keen to take you back?"

Romana drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Turning her face to look outside the cave, she shrugged. "It's as good a reason as any, I suppose."

"What is?"

Forcing a smile to her lips, Romana looked back at Adric. "The Doctor has been traveling through time and space for a very, very long time Adric. He's been doing this since his first incarnation. In six hundred years, he's never traveled with another Time Lord, not until me." She gave Adric a sad smile. "He usually travels with people like you. He's awfully fond of humans, too."

Adric looked away from her, somewhat embarrassed.

"Really, you're much more his type. I think the novelty of traveling with a Time Lady has simply worn off for him. I've been summoned back to Gallifrey, but if he really wanted me to stay, there's not a force in this universe or the next that could make him do as they asked."

The revelation, and Romana's conviction as she said it, surprised him. "You really believe so?"

Nodding empathically she said, "Yes. It makes me sad, in a sense, but I'm coming to terms with it." She lifted her eyes to him. "He's very fond of you, for one. It makes it easier to know he'll not be alone once I'm gone."

The way Romana spoke made a warm glow settle over Adric. He felt like she knew what she was talking about and was telling the truth; he could believe her. For once, he felt like he truly belonged.

"You've stopped shivering," Romana noted after several seconds.

Adric smiled. "I'm feeling better."

Easily, Romana said, "Perhaps you should get some sleep then. It'll be morning soon and I think there will be a lot of work to do."

For a few seconds Adric was going to protest, but then he thought better of it. The warm glow settling over him was soothing and comfortable. He decided, for once, to take the advice of someone in authority and let his eyes droop closed. Soon he was fast asleep.

--

Romana thought of rousing Adric at the first sign of dawn but decided to let him rest. Without food to offer him to help expedite his recovery, she knew he needed as much rest as he could get. Outside, the sky was still gray with clouds but the raining had finally let up. As the sun rose, the visibility in the cave increased until Romana could clearly see again. Adric had fallen asleep with his head propped again the back of the wall.

He looked so young resting there; far too young to have his arms bandaged due to heroically disabling a power generator, to have lost his parents and brother already, to be so smart and brave and so alone. She hadn't noticed it before, but it was easy to see now why the boy appealed to the Doctor: they were so very similar.

"Adric?" she softly said. Reaching a hand out, she gently brushed the dark hair off the boy's brow. "Adric, it's time to wake up."

Adric stirred slowly, squeezing his eyes tightly closed before opening them. He blinked rapidly for several seconds, then turned and sat up, surprised to see Romana. "It's morning!"

Romana rewarded him with a bright smile. "How are you feeling?"

Stretching his arms out, Adric nodded. "I'm feeling much better. Still sore, a bit, but I'm all right, I think." His face darkened considerably. "The Doctor hasn't returned?"

"No." Romana got to her knees. "And I think it's about time we went looking for him."

"I agree." Adric was very slow unfolding himself from the position he'd slept in. He experienced the pins and needles that were associated with having slept in one position for too long and had to walk around outside the cave for several minutes until feeling returned. "Looks at though it's going to start raining again any moment."

Romana eyed the sky forlornly, pulling her coat back on around her. The wind was bitingly cold, though not as gusty as the previous night. "We'd better head back to the TARDIS. It's possible that the Doctor might have lost his way and been unable to find us again. If so, he would have gone there."

Adric grimaced as he pulled his shoes back on—they were still waterlogged and very cold. "I wouldn't mind changing, at least," he said.

Reluctantly they left the cave behind—it wasn't out of any desire to stay, but for fear that the Doctor might return in the end and find them missing. Their fears were soon intensified as they approached the village proper—or what remained of it.

The hurricane had come ashore the night before and ripped through the village and surrounding forest before being broken up by the mountain range. Trees littered the beach and debris ran up and down the entire length of shore. Not a single building still stood; most had been reduced to little more than sodden piles of rubble. Massive trees were snapped in half like matchsticks, with roots sticking straight up into the sky.

The entire coastline was ravaged by the wind and water save for one narrow strip of land—where Adric's calculations had taken them during the night, and even it showed signs of wind damage. The trees that still stood there were missing branches and leaves.

"Look!" Adric cried, pointing to a flutteringly burgundy scarf in the distance.

Strung high in the roots of an overturned tree dangled the Doctor's scarf. Romana wasted no time picking her way across the rubble to salvage it. It was heavy from rain and unraveled slightly at the end, but still in good condition. She held it to her as she returned to Adric.

Picking up the unraveled end of the scarf, Adric fretted. "It _could_ have blown off him during the night," he said plaintively.

Romana's eyes were fixed on the pile of rubbish that the tree had landed on. She did not want to imagine what had happened if the Doctor had been crushed under that and then regenerated there. It was just too horrible a concept to entertain.

"Hello, there! Why the long faces, eh?"

Adric and Romana spun around as if they were one. The Doctor strode toward them, grinning his mad-happy grin. His scarf and hat were missing, and his coat seemed a bit stained from water, but he was none the worse for the wear. K-9 rolled along after him, having to navigate carefully over the debris-laden terrain.

Meeting him halfway, Romana threw her arms around him, hugging his middle. "You had us worried!" she chided.

The Doctor squeezed her with one arm, still grinning. "There was a hurricane, don't you know! Bit busy, Romana!"

"Your scarf, Doctor," Adric said smiling sheepishly as he handed it over.

The Doctor accepted it, threw it twice around his neck then pulled Adric in for a hug with his other arm. "Glad to see you two didn't blow away last night."

Adric accepted the hug but winced at the pain it sent coursing through his body. "Can't say as much about the rest of the village."

Romana pulled away from the Doctor, her face turning grave. "The villagers," she began, turning to him. "Are they safe?"

"Safe enough," the Doctor replied. His attention turned to Adric and he turned the boy around easily. "How are your wounds then? See you're walking about."

Adric flexed his arms out experimentally. They felt tender but not as painful. "I'm doing better."

"How are you feeling?" the Doctor asked.

Adric couldn't help but smile. "Very hungry."

Over Adric's head, the Doctor grinned at Romana and said, "He's doing much better! His appetite has returned!"

Romana laughed but a wailing cry from behind made it short lived. Turning, she spied the first of the village folk returning from the caves to survey the devastation left by the storm. The first cry was soon met with more as men, women and children discovered their homes and all their possessions were destroyed or washed away by the sea. Their mourning tugged at her hearts. "This bay never should have been settled," she said angrily.

"You're absolutely right, Romana," the Doctor said. Gone was the jovial smile from his face, replaced instead by a hardened stoniness that proved how very grave the situation was. "This whole planet never should have been colonized. It isn't as if just this bay were at risk for inclement weather. The government has installed these generators that control the weather all over the world. They malfunction and wreak havoc across all the towns. The government ignores the cries of the people because they're comfortable and much too busy to care."

"That must be a massive network of generators!" Adric cried.

"Indeed," the Doctor said. "Far too massive for this sort of culture to maintain the system."

"Just what're you saying, Doctor?"

Lifting his head, the Doctor focused his eyes on Evan. The man had surfaced with the rest of the villagers and now stood before them with a defeated, broken expression on his face. "I think you know full well what I'm saying. Your government has lied to you. Instead of warning you of the dangers of tampering with the generators, they inspire fear in you so you don't travel to the mountains and potentially discover them. They would keep their secret safe, even at the cost of your life."

"What secret?" Evan asked.

"The secret of the many who have died today, and other days in other places, because of these faulty generators. How simple it is for them to turn a blind eye and sweep murder under the rug." The Doctor's eyes seemed to flare as he continued, his anger growing with each word he spoke. "The greedy go on being greedy and the poor and stupid go on being poor and stupid. They brought you into this new world and then took no responsibility to take care of you, to guide you." His eyes narrowed. "It's inexcusable."

"What's the main export of your planet?" Romana asked.

Evan seemed momentarily stunned. He had a lot of information to process. "Most of us work in the trees, refining leaves. When properly dried and prepared, they create a strong smoke. We in the village don't care for its effects, but it's extremely popular in the cities."

"Drug money," the Doctor scowled. "Thousands have undoubtedly died for the greed of this planet's government, and for what? So some lazy city-dwelling nobs can get their rocks off and a few quids in?" He sneered.

"How do you know all this?" Evan demanded. Some of the spark had returned to him and he held his fists clenched at his sides, but clearly still struggled with the concept.

"I can show you, my good man," the Doctor explained. His hardened expression softened slightly as he bent to politeness. He put a hand on Evan's shoulder, turning him toward the mountain. "I might even just have devised a way to sort this mess out."

"Back at the TARDIS?" Adric asked hopefully, shaking out his drying clothes.

The Doctor gave the boy a brief smile and began walking. "Back at the TARDIS indeed. Come along!"

--

Evan stared suspiciously at the TARDIS when they returned to it, but Adric wasted no time in explaining what it was or how they'd all fit inside. He was quite famished and terribly filthy and was more than eager to rectify both situations. He hurried inside immediately, followed quite soon by Romana and K-9. The Doctor took off his hat and held the door open for Evan, welcoming him in with a bright smile.

The Console Room was empty by the time Evan entered; Adric and Romana had gone off to sort themselves out. Presumably Romana had taken K-9 with her; he'd sustained some damage from the storm. The Doctor squashed his hat into his coat pocket before he deposited said coat, along with his scarf, on the hat rack behind him.

"I want to show you something, Evan," the Doctor said, moving to the console. He pressed a few buttons and lifted his eyes as the scanner window rose. It depicted not the immediate exterior terrain, but the view he'd recorded of Needa from space. "Do you know what that is?"

Evan approached the screen cautiously. "A ball," he finally stated.

The Doctor spread his hands out on the console, bowing his head as he leaned forward. "No, that's your world. Honestly, how can they expect you to operate a generator if you don't even know what your planet looks like?"

"I don't understand," Evan said, taking his eyes off the planet to fix them on the Doctor. "What is this place?"

"Never mind that now," the Doctor snapped. "What you need to understand is that your world is run by a corrupt government. Do you understand the concept of government?"

Evan's nodded slowly. "The ones who are in charge."

"Yes!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Always in charge and rarely should be," he followed up in a mutter. "It is their responsibility to see that your people are protected from things like that hurricane."

Evan's eyes narrowed. "You brought the storm when they broke the box."

"While it's true that my companions are responsible for instigating the destruction of the generator, they can hardly be held responsible for the storm itself. This is a violent planet. It's far too young and too volatile for it to be settled already. The fact that your government has ignored this problem and dropped settlers on the world anyway, without educating them, is obscene. Unmanned weather generators are not sufficient protection against the forces of nature!"

Evan's eyes traveled back to the display of Needa on the scanner. "But what can we possibly do?" he asked. "The government is so big and we're so small."

Sighing, the Doctor pushed away from the console. He crossed around the room, coming to stand beside Evan, looking at the planet on the scanner. "You fight them. There are many of you now, all angry and homeless. You march on the capital and demand that changes be made. Demand equality and justice. Demand re-colonization."

Evan's took a deep breath as the weight of that responsibility settled on his shoulders. "Will it work?"

"If it doesn't, then you must take the matters into your own hands."

"I'll do what I must. We can't continue like we have."

The Doctor put a hand on the door mechanism, opening it so Evan's could leave. "The universe is often unfortunately a cruel place. Be grateful you have the chance to change it for the good."

Evan's shuffled toward the door, stopping before he exited. "Come with us. Your knowledge would surely lead credence to our plight."

The Doctor gave the man a smile, shaking his head. "No, no, I'm afraid that's far beyond my territory. I discovered the problem, but it's yours to sort out."

It seemed thanks were in order, but Evan didn't offer any. After all, inadvertently or not this man had destroyed his home and all his possessions. Instead, he simply stood there, taking in the glory of the TARDIS Console Room whilst rocking back on his heels slightly.

The Doctor faced him properly. "Were there many causalities?"

"None, thanks to your friend. The caves protected us."

"I'm glad for that," the Doctor said, sounding genuinely pleased. "There's far too much death in the universe. This one and my own."

Glancing around once more, Evan's said. "You travel in this?"

Smiling, the Doctor nodded. "Through the stars."

"You're like a God," Evan said, stepping out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor shook his head, still smiling. "No. More like a concerned friend. Take care, Evan!" When the man was cleared of the doors, the Doctor pulled the lever to shut them again. He started up the dematerialization sequence. Not long after Adric and Romana entered the Console Room together.

Both appeared showered and had changed into fresh clothes. Romana wore dark slacks and a sleeveless button down pink shirt. Adric wore khaki trousers, with a loose fitting red shirt on, tied at the waist by his marsh belt; his badge was pinned to his chest. "Feeling better you two?" the Doctor questioned.

"Much, thanks you," Romana said, gliding into the room. "Have we left already?"

"Thought it best. We interfered enough as it was."

"It's a shame all the snow melted," Adric stated. "I rather fancied another romp."

Shaking his head in amusement, the Doctor grinned. "You know, there are far greater adventures out there for me to show you than snowball fights on backwater worlds, Adric."

The words made Adric's head snap up appreciatively. His chest tightened in a strange way as his lips curved into a pleased smile. "Does that mean you've decided _not_ to take me back to the Starliner?"

Instead of answering, the Doctor's grin just grew broader and more brilliant.

After carefully studying the two, Romana cheerfully said, "Well, I think Adric would be quite fond of a roller coaster theme park, don't you Doctor?"

"Indeed," the Doctor agreed, fiddling with the controls. "Of course, that would require our return to N-Space." He fiddled some more. "The process of which is still eluding me. I may just never figure it out."

Romana laughed, shaking her head. "Oh, you will, you will. I'm sure you will." Her eyes returned to Adric. "How are your burns, Adric?"

"Much better, thank you," he replied, displaying his scar-free arms to her. "Having eaten and got back inside the safety of the TARDIS, my metabolism was able to fix the last of it up nicely."

"I'm glad," Romana said, eyes twinkling. "Speaking of food, I think I'll partake of some now, and then have a look at K-9. Poor thing got quite waterlogged by all that rain." She looked between them. "You two don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone."

The Doctor clucked at her silently, watching her with his eyes while his hands ran over the keyboard on the console. Adric just grinned at her departure, moving to stand by the Doctor once she was gone. He watched him fiddling with the controls for several seconds, trying to make out what he was doing.

"Romana seems to be acting rather odd of late, doesn't she?" the Doctor said without looking down. His gaze was still fixed on the door she had waltzed out of.

Adric shrugged. "I'm sure she's got a lot on her mind."

As though this were an insult, the Doctor's head snapped down so he could glare at Adric. "Are you saying I've not been paying attention to her? Just what did you two get up to while I was away!"

The Doctor's outburst made Adric laugh. "Nothing," he said. "We had a very pleasant talk." Nudging against the Doctor with his shoulder, Adric's smile mellowed. "Sometimes though, I do wonder how much there is that I know that you don't."

Letting out a barking laugh, finding the statement preposterous, the Doctor shook his head. "While your maths may be slightly superior to mine, I assure you that I've got all the knowledge you have, as well as a great deal more."

Adric let out a pleased hum as he thought, earning a suspicious glare from the Doctor. "I'm going to teach you something new, Doctor," he slyly said.

"I'm not sure I like the tone of your voice, boy," the Doctor returned. Nevertheless, he found himself oddly curious about what was brewing in Adric's mind.

Batting the Doctor's hands away from the console, Adric took over, scanning through the systems and planets that the TARDIS had recently added to its databanks from its scans of E-Space. Grinning wickedly as he settled on a location, Adric began plotting a new course. "Tell me, Doctor," he began, "do you know how to surf?"

Straightening up, the Doctor very loudly said, "What, surf? _Me_? Never!"

Adric broke into a very toothy grin, very reminiscent of the Doctor's own smile, and set the rotor going. Peering up at his companion, Adric said in the best authoritative voice he could muster, "Go and fetch your swim trunks, Doctor. Lessons start in fifteen minutes."

Stunned into silence, all the Doctor could do was stare.


End file.
